The bill introduced by US Senators Mr. Chuck Grassley and Mr. Dick Durbin on Thursday is expected to have grim implications for the Indian IT firms, as it aims at curtailing the use the of H-1B and L1 visas, thereby limiting the competitiveness of the offshore vendors.

The bill proposes to alter the H-1B and L1 visa stipulations in such a way that US employers would be prohibited from employing additional H-1B and L-1 guest-workers in case more than 50 per cent of their workers are H-1B and L-1 visa holders. The implementation of the proposal in its current form could cause a big dent in the profitability of the Indian IT services market.